Break Ups and Hook Ups
by Lady Abbess
Summary: RyoSakuFuji. I never left you, Ryomakun. You did.


**Prince of Tennis**

**One-shot**

**Theme:** First and Second Chances

**Written by:** Lady Abbess

**Pairing:** Ryo-Saku-Fuji

**Message:** Read, enjoy, and review!

**Standard Disclaimer Applied**

"_Will you come back to me?"_

-

-

-

The scent of perfume was faint. _His perfume_. She stood by her dresser and stared numbly at the half-empty bottle of his perfume, standing there as menacingly as its owner with his solemn cat eyes. It was his only memento left in her apartment for somehow she couldn't find the heart to throw it away, no matter how much she wanted to. _I still miss him._

"Sakuno-chan, I don't understand you." Her friend spoke up.

She pursed her lips and turned away from the dresser. "What do you mean, Tomo-chan?"

Brownish-red pigtails bobbed happily as the former president of Seishun Gakuen's 'Ryoma-sama' fans club stood up from her place on the immaculately lavender bed, "He left you. Why is his perfume here on your dresser? Sakuno-chan, I want you to be honest with me – you still love him, don't you?"

"Yes." She glanced at her with hopeless eyes. "But I don't know why. My heart feels like it's going to shatter." Her eyes glazed but the emotion faded away before it was distinguishable. "Is this how heartbreaks are supposed to be?"

Tomoka frowned sympathetically and walked to her. "Heartbreaks often depend on the person. Think of me as a cheesy, love-stricken girl but from what I've seen in the movies and read in magazines – some people feel the way you do, some don't at all. I've never been happily tied down to one guy, Sakuno-chan. I initiate the heartbreaks. Especially if the fool's some guy who's as fresh as the morning air and goes sleeping around. To be honest, I don't know the feeling. I'm boy crazy but I don't know how it feels to be truly in love."

"You don't have to feel sorry for me and for yourself, Tomo-chan. I can handle myself."

"Baka," She bonked Sakuno on the head. "I forced Ryoma-teme on you, even if he was as cold as an iceberg. I should be so sorry, it's my entire fault."

"It's because you know I liked him. Well, maybe loved, but at this point, I don't know what love is anymore."

"It'll take you some time. Don't worry about it, you'll heal. Anyway, I heard he went to see you earlier. What did he want? Did you tell him what I told you to say to him? Tell him the curse words I taught you if he comes back to see you again tomorrow. The bastard. He ditches you then he goes seeing you again a week after? What a sonofagun!!!"

Sakuno cringed and lost the heart to start crying, a smile inching its way to her lips. "I should take you with me when he tries asking me to meet him at the café down the street. You'll be my potty mouth, then."

Tomoka grinned and placed her socked foot on her friend's bed, "It'll be my pleasure but I doubt he'd like it. Oh, but who cares?! I'll make him my punching bag if you'll allow it. And to think I worshipped him as 'Ryoma-sama' back in the days… Damn… What did he want anyway?"

"I'm so glad you're my friend. You make me feel better." Sakuno told her. Then, tensing a bit, "Can you believe what he said to me?" And she told her the six words that her former love had spoken.

"What on earth did he mean by 'will you come back to me'?!?!?!"

-

-

-

"_Would you come back to him?"_

-

-

-

He fiddled with his camera and looked with sad eyes at the girl he had come to have feelings for. The slice of chocolate cake on his plate was unforgotten. He had no want for something sweet at the moment – it was just the product of the want to waste money. And waste money he did. "Sakuno-chan, I saw you and Ryoma at the café near your apartment earlier." He said, with no idea of why he said it and expected no answer from her, just a bright flush and tensed silence.

"He asked me to come back to him." Sakuno replied with a straight face.

"Ah," He turned away from her and stared out of the window, watching the blinking lights of the night life, "What did you say to him?"

She smiled sadly and played with the cherry of her black-forest slice. "I told him that I'm confused. That I don't know yet. That I'm so confused by his actions – he threw me away like a rag doll. Then he wants me back? I told him that and choice words from Tomoka-chan. He was surprised to hear me curse. Everyone at the café looked at us weirdly that it was so awkward."

"Sakuno-chan… I don't know if I'm prying but would… Would you come back to him?"

He was certain that the startled expression on her face was evidence that she hadn't expected him to ask her that. It was such a bittersweet question. Part of him told him that he should let her make her choice and let her be happy, but another side of him said that he should be too selfish for once and make that choice for her. "I-I'm sorry, Sakuno-chan, I k-knew I shouldn't have asked i-it…" _Damn. Why am I stuttering?_ All his life, the genius Fuji Syuusuke had never stuttered. But now, he was a tongue-tied simpleton. And it was all because of her, Ryuuzaki Sakuno.

"Why do you ask, Fuji-kun?"

"Sakuno-chan, y-you know how I feel about you…" He quietly said, eyes falling to the camera on his lap. _Even before you were taken by Ryoma…_

"I do, Fuji-kun…"

"Would you come back to him?"

She smiled at him. His heart skipped. Then, her pretty mouth opened. "Why should I come back to him, Fuji-kun?"

"I don't know… You like him, don't you?"

"He left me, Fuji-kun. I've always been there by his side, but he went on dating other women until Horio-kun and the others busted him. I wasn't the one who left but him. I've matured. I won't be the one who's crying now."

"So there's no chance for him,"

"If there's someone who should be given a chance then it should be the one I have in mind…"

He jerked his head up and suddenly felt like he was the luckiest man in the world.

-

-

-

"_Why should I come back to you?"_

-

-

-

"Ryoma-kun, please stop this." She said with a determined face. The tea in her cup looked splendidly fascinating now and its sweet aroma enticed her. _I want nothing to do with him anymore._ Her hair had been cut to a length up to her shoulders but she wished that she have them long in their situation now so she could melt away into the shadows they emit over her face. "I don't want you anymore. I don't love you. You've ended this before and it's hard to start all over again. We cannot be together."

"I need you, Sakuno. Can't you understand that? I've been wrong before but I'll try to make it right."

His gaze was the same as she the one she remembers in her sleep, steely and solemn. Echizen Ryoma, not the twelve year old kid he used to be but a handsome college student, was one who could never keep a relationship for long. It was like a game to him, like a tennis match, that he either wins or loses but as time passes by fades away into insignificance. Nothing is forever for him and Sakuno knew that very well. He was not a lover but a heartbreaker. Ask that to Ryoma's former girlfriends before her and they'll guarantee you that.

"You must be mistaken, Ryoma-kun. You hardly know what you're talking about. Haven't you said that to all the girls you've dated before?"

He lowered his cap over his eyes before speaking as cool as he could ever be, "Have you been gossiping about me with those bitches?"

"No. They tell me that and I hear them talk about it during lunch breaks. Why? Would you deny that?"

"What are you talking about, Sakuno? Do you believe them? You know me, don't you? I was just confused… I was not myself, then. I'm gathering my wits, sorting things out. Women are seriously complex, you should realize that."

"I hardly knew you, Ryoma-kun." She smiled with no humor in her eyes. "And that's what you get for not sticking to one woman. Face it, you're a playboy. You can't stay for too long with just one woman."

"Sakuno, please. Just come back to me… Please." The look in his eyes undeniably held anger. "You don't know what you're doing in turning me down. A lot of women want me for themselves. They'd kill to be in your place. I have to have you. No one should have you but me."

"Why should I come back to you? I've been silly when we were still in junior high, having a petty little crush on you and in high school we've started dating since I had no clue how you were with women then I find out that it's not only me you're seeing. How many women have you bed already? And I never left you. You did."

"Maybe I did. But what're you gonna do now?" He sneered.

"Someone is waiting for me. He's been there for me and I know he loves me. That's something you could never do in your entire life."

"Is Fujiko going to make you happy?"

"I'm sure he will." She inhaled deeply. _This is harder than what Tomo-chan told me would happen._ She drank some of her tea whilst Ryoma glared at his shoes. He tugged at his cap and then started staring at her, "I'm certain you won't change your mind anymore. Be sure with your choice, Sakuno, or you'll regret it."

"You know, Ryoma-kun, what I would regret is not being smart with my choice in choosing you over him. I regret not picking him sooner."

"Then whatever I say to you will make no difference, now?"

"Zip."

"You've grown, Sakuno."

"I know I did."

"Well then, this is goodbye." He stood up and straightened his jacket.

"Yes," She followed suit and tugged at the hem of her skirt. "Good bye, Ryoma-kun."

"Good bye, Sakuno."

-

-

-

"_Do you love me?"_

-

-

-

"I talked to him. We said good bye to each other, Fuji-kun. We've ended it."

He sat on the couch and listened to her talk, smiling like he always did. "I'm proud of you, Sakuno-chan. You did very well for yourself."

"I know I've made a good choice, Fuji-kun." She turned to him and sat on the arm of the couch. "I just wish I've made it sooner… Tomo-chan would be so happy with the news. She was rooting for you, you know."

"What did she say?"

"Said that even if you're sadistically scary, you're a tad handsome than Ryoma-kun."

"Just a tad? You guys insult me, Sakuno-chan." He faked a hurt look on his face, earning a giggle from the apple of his eye. (**A/N:** Cheesy, I know… XD)

"She reckons that you're cute because you look like a girl."

"Now, that's something really unacceptable."

"She said that, not me!"

"Just joking! Oh, Sakuno-chan, I hope you wouldn't mind but I told Tezuka and Inui that we're together now."

"When?"

"Uh… When you're having a chat with Ryoma-kun… Haha…"

She beamed at him. "Tomo-chan's right, you are _kawaii_!!!"

"Uh, I now hate that term…"

"What did they say?"

"Tezuka congratulated me and wanted to send you his greetings and Inui, as usual, was 'Ii data!'. He never got tired of it, especially since he was asked to coach Seigaku's tennis club now. He was too happy about the job appointment, knowing he beat Tezuka to it."

"I was wondering, Fuji-kun, what are the senpai-tachi doing now? I know Eiji-kun's a television show host and he owns a pet store and you're a professional photographer. Now, I know Inui-kun's Seigaku's coach so what about the others?"

"Oishi's a preschool teacher, suits him I think, Momo's in a culinary school and he's engaged to Ann – I'm sure you've heard about that one, Kaidou's a volunteer for the WWF, Tezuka's starting out as a lawyer and Taka-san took over the sushi shop. Everyone's real good, neh?"

"Mm-mm!!"

"Let's have dinner, Sakuno-chan – my treat."

"Okay. Do I have to dress into something else?"

"No need. You look good in that. Shall we?" He held out his arm and offered it to her.

She patted his hand as she took it, "You're such a gentleman, Fuji-kun."

"Syuusuke."

"Eh?"

"We're a couple but you keep calling me by my surname. I'm Syuusuke-kun, okay?"

"Alright, _Syuusuke-kun._ Just one question: Do you love me?"

"Very cheesy, Sakuno-chan. But yes, I love you, my dear. I really do. My turn: Do you love me?"

"I like you, but I'll get myself there. I know I'll love you."

"I've waited for some time now. I don't mind waiting for you to get there. I really wanted to say 'thank you' for giving me the chance."

"It's my pleasure."

-

-

-

"_Thanks for the chance…"_

-

-

-

"_You're welcome."_

-

-

-

**END.**

**A/N:** Yes, somewhat OOC, I know. But I like it, honest! And do please be kind and leave me something to squeal about… Like a review!! Or a date with Shirota-kun and Hiroki-kun! Yay!!!


End file.
